Possibility of a restructuring at Smurfit excites the market

The market enthusiastically greeted the prospect of the reported major restructuring of Smurfit's American operations and pushed the share ahead strongly in hefty volumes in Dublin and London - and also in New York where JS Corp shares continued their onward march.

A rationalisation of its operations with the sale of the newsprint and forest operations would be welcomed by analysts, as it would allow Smurfit to concentrate on the core packaging operations, removing the Morgan Stanley fund from the JS Corp share register would always be welcomed as a move to remove a huge overhang on the JS Corp share price.

In Dublin, Smurfit was the only highlight and dealt up 7p to 217p, while in London the shares were up 6p to 194p sterling in volume of 1.4 million shares. JS Corp shares were $1/2 higher on $19 1/2 as the Irish market closed.

Elsewhere among the leaders, AIB was 1 3/4p higher on 630 3/4p as Merrill Lynch joined the bank's fan club, setting a 700p share price as a 12-month target for AIB. Bank of Ireland was marginally easier on 842 1/2p, but Anglo Irish put in a spurt, closing up 2 1/2 p on 102p - an all-time high.

CRH was unchanged on 680p, Avonmore gained 2 1/2p to 315p, Waterford Wedgwood was 1p higher on 90p, while Irish Life drifted 1 1/4p lower on 361 3/4p.